The Wild Lily of Monsoon Rains

‘The Glory Lily’ flower is enchanting with its beautiful colors and curled arrangement of petals. Its botanical name itself tells about it: Gloriosa superba. I find it in the wild on the roadside bushes – only at a certain period of time of the year. Yes, it is seen here in the North East monsoon season only – that too for a few days only! I usually search for its first bloom in the monsoon and pat myself for having found it out first in the season. I am doing this search for this wonder lily each year for the past fifteen years. But peculiarly I could not spot it in the previous year. The reason is that the rainfall was inadequate!